scholarly journals Naïve and Experienced Honeybee Foragers Learn Normally Configured Flowers More Easily Than Non-configured or Highly Contrasted Flowers

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scarlett R. Howard ◽  
Adrian G. Dyer ◽  
Jair E. Garcia ◽  
Martin Giurfa ◽  
David H. Reser ◽  
...  

Angiosperms have evolved to attract and/or deter specific pollinators. Flowers provide signals and cues such as scent, colour, size, pattern, and shape, which allow certain pollinators to more easily find and visit the same type of flower. Over evolutionary time, bees and angiosperms have co-evolved resulting in flowers being more attractive to bee vision and preferences, and allowing bees to recognise specific flower traits to make decisions on where to forage. Here we tested whether bees are instinctively tuned to process flower shape by training both flower-experienced and flower-naïve honeybee foragers to discriminate between pictures of two different flower species when images were either normally configured flowers or flowers which were scrambled in terms of spatial configuration. We also tested whether increasing picture contrast, to make flower features more salient, would improve or impair performance. We used four flower conditions: (i) normally configured greyscale flower pictures, (ii) scrambled flower configurations, (iii) high contrast normally configured flowers, and (iv) asymmetrically scrambled flowers. While all flower pictures contained very similar spatial information, both experienced and naïve bees were better able to learn to discriminate between normally configured flowers than between any of the modified versions. Our results suggest that a specialisation in flower recognition in bees is due to a combination of hard-wired neural circuitry and experience-dependent factors.

Author(s):  
Z. Li

Abstract. Map is an effective communication means. It carries and transmits spatial information about spatial objects and phenomena, from map makers to map users. Therefore, cartography can be regarded as a communication system. Efforts has been made on the application of Shannon Information theory developed in digital communication to cartography to establish an information theory of cartography, or simply cartographic information theory (or map information theory). There was a boom during the period from later 1960s to early 1980s. Since later 1980s, researcher have almost given up the dream of establishing the information theory of cartography because they met a bottleneck problem. That is, Shannon entropy is only able to characterize the statistical information of map symbols but not capable of characterizing the spatial configuration (patterns) of map symbols. Fortunately, break-through has been made, i.e. the building of entropy models for metric and thematic information as well as a feasible computational model for Boltzmann entropy. This paper will review the evolutional processes, examine the bottleneck problems and the solutions, and finally propose a framework for the information theory of cartography. It is expected that such a theory will become the most fundamental theory of cartography in the big data era.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (18) ◽  
pp. e107-e107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamim Abdelaal ◽  
Soufiane Mourragui ◽  
Ahmed Mahfouz ◽  
Marcel J T Reinders

Abstract Single-cell technologies are emerging fast due to their ability to unravel the heterogeneity of biological systems. While scRNA-seq is a powerful tool that measures whole-transcriptome expression of single cells, it lacks their spatial localization. Novel spatial transcriptomics methods do retain cells spatial information but some methods can only measure tens to hundreds of transcripts. To resolve this discrepancy, we developed SpaGE, a method that integrates spatial and scRNA-seq datasets to predict whole-transcriptome expressions in their spatial configuration. Using five dataset-pairs, SpaGE outperformed previously published methods and showed scalability to large datasets. Moreover, SpaGE predicted new spatial gene patterns that are confirmed independently using in situ hybridization data from the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-324
Author(s):  
Johanna Eckert ◽  
Hannes Rakoczy ◽  
Shona Duguid ◽  
Esther Herrmann ◽  
Josep Call

Humans and nonhuman great apes share a sense for intuitive statistics, making intuitive probability judgments based on proportional information. This ability is of tremendous importance, in particular for predicting the outcome of events using prior information and for inferring general regularities from limited numbers of observations. Already in infancy, humans functionally integrate intuitive statistics with other cognitive domains, rendering this type of reasoning a powerful tool to make rational decisions in a variety of contexts. Recent research suggests that chimpanzees are capable of one type of such cross-domain integration: The integration of statistical and social information. Here, we investigated whether apes can also integrate physical information into their statistical inferences. We tested 14 sanctuary-living chimpanzees in a new task setup consisting of two “gumball machine”-apparatuses that were filled with different combinations of preferred and non-preferred food items. In four test conditions, subjects decided which of two apparatuses they wanted to operate to receive a random sample, while we varied both the proportional composition of the food items as well as their spatial configuration above and below a barrier. To receive the more favorable sample, apes needed to integrate proportional and spatial information. Chimpanzees succeeded in conditions in which we provided them either with proportional information or spatial information, but they failed to correctly integrate both types of information when they were in conflict. Whether these limitations in chimpanzees' performance reflect true limits of cognitive competence or merely performance limitations due to accessory task demands is still an open question.


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRIS TAILBY ◽  
SAMUEL G. SOLOMON ◽  
JONATHAN W. PEIRCE ◽  
ANDREW B. METHA

The preferred stimulus size of a V1 neuron decreases with increases in stimulus contrast. It has been supposed that stimulus contrast is the primary determinant of such spatial summation in V1 cells, though the extent to which it depends on other stimulus attributes such as orientation and spatial frequency remains untested. We investigated this by recording from single cells in V1 of anaesthetized cats and monkeys, measuring size-tuning curves for high-contrast drifting gratings of optimal spatial configuration, and comparing these curves with those obtained at lower contrast or at sub-optimal orientations or spatial frequencies. For drifting gratings of optimal spatial configuration, lower contrasts produced less surround suppression resulting in increases in preferred size. High contrast gratings of sub-optimal spatial configuration produced more surround suppression than optimal low-contrast gratings, and as much or more surround suppression than optimal high-contrast gratings. For sub-optimal spatial frequencies, preferred size was similar to that for the optimal high-contrast stimulus, whereas for sub-optimal orientations, preferred size was smaller than that for the optimal high-contrast stimulus. These results indicate that, while contrast is an important determinant of spatial summation in V1, it is not the only determinant. Simulation of these experiments on a cortical receptive field modeled as a Gabor revealed that the small preferred sizes observed for non-preferred stimuli could result simply from linear filtering by the classical receptive field. Further simulations show that surround suppression in retinal ganglion cells and LGN cells can be propagated to neurons in V1, though certain properties of the surround seen in cortex indicate that it is not solely inherited from earlier stages of processing.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamim Abdelaal ◽  
Soufiane Mourragui ◽  
Ahmed Mahfouz ◽  
Marcel J.T. Reinders

AbstractSingle-cell technologies are emerging fast due to their ability to unravel the heterogeneity of biological systems. While scRNA-seq is a powerful tool that measures whole-transcriptome expression of single cells, it lacks their spatial localization. Novel spatial transcriptomics methods do retain cells spatial information but can only measure tens to hundreds of transcripts. To resolve this discrepancy, we developed SpaGE, a method that integrates spatial and scRNA-seq datasets to predict whole-transcriptome expressions in their spatial configuration. Using five dataset-pairs, SpaGE outperformed previously published methods and showed scalability to large datasets. Moreover, SpaGE predicted new spatial gene patterns that are confirmed independently.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lev E. Givon ◽  
Aurel A. Lazar

AbstractThe central complex (CX) is a set of neuropils in the center of the fly brain that have been implicated as playing an important role in vision-mediated behavior and integration of spatial information for locomotor control. In contrast to currently available data regarding the neural circuitry of neuropils in the fly's vision and olfactory systems, comparable data for the CX neuropils is relatively incomplete; many categories of neurons remain only partly characterized, and the synaptic connectivity between CX neurons has yet to be experimentally determined. Successful modeling of the information processing functions of the CX neuropils therefore requires a means of easily constructing and testing a range of hypotheses regarding both the high-level structure of their neural circuitry and the properties of their constituent neurons and synapses. This document demonstrates how NeuroArch and Neurokernel may be used to algorithmically construct and evaluate executable neural circuit models of the CX neuropils and their interconnects based upon currently available information regarding the geometry and polarity of the arborizations of identified local and projection neurons in the CX.


Author(s):  
Jose Luis Cabanes ◽  
Federico Iborra-Bernad ◽  
Carlos Bonafé-Cervera

Reconstrucción virtual de ambientes urbanos a partir de fotografías históricas a través de Image Based Animations (IBA). La Plaza de la Virgen de Valencia alrededor de 1870. Jose Luis Cabanes Ginés¹, Federico Iborra Bernad², Carlos Bonafé Cervera3 ¹Departamento de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Caminio de Vera s/n 46022 Valencia. 2Departamento de Composición Arquitectónica. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Caminio de Vera s/n 46022 Valencia 3Departamento de Ing. Cartográf. Geodesia y Fotogramtría. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Caminio de Vera s/n 46022 Valencia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Keywords (3-5): virtual reconstruction, historical urban environment, image based animations Conference topics and scale: City transformations / Tools of analysis in urban morphology   The recreation of the historical environment of emblematic urban spaces in our cities through interactive technologies, allows to extend their knowledge among the interested users while contributing to its assessment. When the documentary bases are photographs it is possible to carefully model the recorded elements using photogrammetry techniques based on 3D primitives, so that by means of an immersive navigation limited to certain points of view, an appearance of acceptable tridimensionality is obtained, where only isolated images of dispersed frames are available. The virtual recreation can be completed increasing its realistic appearance through its edition with animations of objects (for example, carriages) and characters, texts, musical setting, etc. The results can be presented in formats such as video or navigation through virtual reality helmets. From a selection of the first historical photographs of the Plaza de la Virgen, that we have obtained searching in several documentary sources, our multidisciplinary team is interested in a reliable, realistic and pleasant presentation of the urban environment of one of the most representative places in the city of Valencia, whose spatial configuration has changed significantly over the years.   References (100 words)   Braun, C., Kolbe, T. H., Lang, F., Schickler, W., Steinhage, V., Cremers, A. B., Förstner, W., Plümer, L., 1995. Models for photogrammetric building reconstruction.  Computers & Graphics, Volume 19, Issue 1, pp. 109-118. Debevec, P., Taylor, C. J. and Malik, J., 1996. Modeling and rendering architecture from photographs: A hybrid geometry and image-based approach. SIGGRAPH’96, pp. 11–20. De Mesa, A., Regot, J., Nuñez, M. A. and Buill, F., (2009). Métodos y procesos para el levantamiento de reconstrucción tridimensional gráfica de elementos del patrimonio cultural. La iglesia de Sant Sever de Barcelona. Revista EGA, nº 14, pp. 82-89. Drap, P., Grussenmeyer, P. and Gaillard, G., 2001. Simple Photogrammetric Methods with ARPENTEUR: 3-D Plotting and Orthoimage generation. XVIII International Symposium CIPA 2001, Potsdam (Germany). International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, nº 34 (Part 5/C7), pp. 47-54. El-Hakim, S., Beraldin, J. and Lapointe, A., 2002. Towards Automatic Modeling of Monuments and Towers. IEEE Proceedings of the International Symposium on 3D Data Processing Visualization and Transmission, 3DPVT 2002, Padua, Italy,  pp. 526-531. Proyecto Barcelona Darrera Mirada, http://darreramirada.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/#historia/8/1 The Old New York,  http://vimeo.com/160024074, https://vimeo.com/162572088


Author(s):  
T. A. Welton

Various authors have emphasized the spatial information resident in an electron micrograph taken with adequately coherent radiation. In view of the completion of at least one such instrument, this opportunity is taken to summarize the state of the art of processing such micrographs. We use the usual symbols for the aberration coefficients, and supplement these with £ and 6 for the transverse coherence length and the fractional energy spread respectively. He also assume a weak, biologically interesting sample, with principal interest lying in the molecular skeleton remaining after obvious hydrogen loss and other radiation damage has occurred.


Author(s):  
Russell L. Steere ◽  
Eric F. Erbe ◽  
J. Michael Moseley

We have designed and built an electronic device which compares the resistance of a defined area of vacuum evaporated material with a variable resistor. When the two resistances are matched, the device automatically disconnects the primary side of the substrate transformer and stops further evaporation.This approach to controlled evaporation in conjunction with the modified guns and evaporation source permits reliably reproducible multiple Pt shadow films from a single Pt wrapped carbon point source. The reproducibility from consecutive C point sources is also reliable. Furthermore, the device we have developed permits us to select a predetermined resistance so that low contrast high-resolution shadows, heavy high contrast shadows, or any grade in between can be selected at will. The reproducibility and quality of results are demonstrated in Figures 1-4 which represent evaporations at various settings of the variable resistor.


Author(s):  
J.N. Turner ◽  
M. Siemens ◽  
D. Szarowski ◽  
D.N. Collins

A classic preparation of central nervous system tissue (CNS) is the Golgi procedure popularized by Cajal. The method is partially specific as only a few cells are impregnated with silver chromate usualy after osmium post fixation. Samples are observable by light (LM) or electron microscopy (EM). However, the impregnation is often so dense that structures are masked in EM, and the osmium background may be undesirable in LM. Gold toning is used for a subtle but high contrast EM preparation, and osmium can be omitted for LM. We are investigating these preparations as part of a study to develop correlative LM and EM (particularly HVEM) methodologies in neurobiology. Confocal light microscopy is particularly useful as the impregnated cells have extensive three-dimensional structure in tissue samples from one to several hundred micrometers thick. Boyde has observed similar preparations in the tandem scanning reflected light microscope (TSRLM).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document